THE SALES CYCLE: PART THREE
The Six Steps
The truth is, selling is largely a mental endeavor. All the top professionals I’ve known in this field estimate it to be at least 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical. It doesn’t really require much physical strength or agility, but as with any game, it does require a certain level of intelligence and mental agility to win.
While it is not exactly rocket science, there are certain specific fundamentals of selling that are on the same order of magnitude and importance as those found in the physical sciences that will help increase your win/loss ratio once you know and apply them.
As any experienced salesman will tell you, every sale goes through a nearly predictable series of stages or steps, similar in all sales. Each one of these major steps has a definite recognizable point that must be concluded expertly to avoid the risk of jeopardizing the entire effort. The sales process evolves and develops to the eventual close as it progresses, or it fails. There is no middle ground.
The six steps of any successful sale are as follows.
0. Preparation for the sales process, mentally and physically
1. Contact the client and qualify them
2. Discover his/her purposes
3. Present your product/service as the solution
4. Handle objections/increase understanding
5. Clarify the benefits/reinforce the purposes
6. Close the sale
00. Complete the paperwork
If you can get the idea that selling is really just this simple, the layers of complexity that only add stress and effort to the process will begin to fall away and you’ll see that it is easy, fun and profitable.
Note that the “0” step is included so it is not forgotten or neglected as it is one of the most important steps on the process. Also, the “00” step is added to remind you that the sale can’t really be counted until it can be banked!
The Six Steps will be discussed in more depth in a later part, but for now you have them ready for clarification and use instantly!
In part four, I’ll discuss invisible selling and reveal a tool that will sharpen your sales focus to laser-like precision.
daniel w. jacobs
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